Brand New Eyes
by The Rekizalb
Summary: A kunoichi from the Hidden Village of Grass is attacked and blinded when she is sent to deliver a message to the Hokage. While waiting in town for the operation, she meets Kiba who acts as her guide and helps her retrieve the message she was to deliver. KibaxOC
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Naruto or any of its trademarks, characters, places, etc.**_

_This story is part of a three part set of stories based on my two Kusagakure characters; Hitomi and Bunko. This is Hitomi's. If you were to put this in a timeline with my other OC-based Naruto stories, this one would take place right before My Favorite Harlequin and right after The Blond and the Blonde._

_This story is exclusive to FanFiction . net while the story based on Bunko's character, The Blond and the Blonde, is exclusive to Quizilla (at least until they take it down)._

* * *

**-1-**

Hitomi was a jonin of Kusagakure. She was known around town for her bright green eyes that sparkled like emeralds. While she enjoyed the role in one of the most diplomatically strategic villages, she spent the majority of her time acting as a courier for the daimyo. She had to admit that playing courier for the daimyo was a bit boring at times though. But this time she had been given a letter to deliver to the Hokage of Konoha. Her daimyo had made it clear that the letter was of the utmost importance and had to be delivered as soon as possible.

So Hitomi had spent her time since then jumping from mushroom to mushroom outside of the village to finally get to the forest outside of Konoha. With the urgency put on the letter she was to deliver, she should have at least expected to be routed on the way there. Without paying attention, Hitomi had accidentally set off several hidden explosive tags, which sent her spiraling to the forest floor.

"Shit!" she cursed as she fell to the forest floor, rubbing her head. A shinobi body flickered in front of her and grabbed Hitomi by her long blue hair, pulling her face towards his.

"Well if it isn't the Emerald-Eyed courier from Kusa," the shinobi laughed. His face was hidden by wraps and he had a Kusagakure headband around his neck with a line cut through it. Hitomi quickly grabbed her katana from its sheath and swung at him, but he body flickered back several yards.

"Not bad courier," the shinobi murmured, "Too bad you're outnumbered." Hitomi looked around her to see shinobi like the one who had grabbed her step out from behind the trees and drop from the branches.

"What could a bunch of traitors want from a courier!" she spat at the shinobi across from her.

He pulled out a short blade, "Simple, the daimyo only sends out the Emerald-Eyed courier on important jobs so we'll be taking whatever you're delivering."

"Not if I can't help it," she called as she stood, racing towards the shinobi and attempting to strike him. He skillfully deflected her hit and sliced through her torso. She fell back as several of the rogues grabbed her and stood on her legs to hold her down. The first shinobi with the short blade walked over to where she was being restrained.

"Now let's see what we have here…" he ripped the satchel from her and dug through it, pulling out a particular letter with the daimyo's mark.

"This is just what I wanted!" he smiled as he pat Hitomi on the head, "What a good courier you are, delivering me my mail. Too bad this will be your last delivery." He swung his short blade around and carefully stabbed it into her left eye, carving it out while the kunoichi's shrieks ripped across the forest. He gave the same treatment to the other eye and held them in his palm.

"These will be some nice souvenirs to remember you by," he laughed, stabbing her in the torso with his short blade. The other rogues let go of her, letting her drop to the ground and body flickered away, leaving the courier to die.

"Oh God," for a moment, Hitomi could make out the hustling and bustling village of Konoha, "Oh God please, save me." She continued crying while she bled out and crawled towards the sound of the village.

"Oh God, I'm almost there, I'm almost there…"

It began on a beautiful sunny day in Konoha, more specifically, the hospital in Konoha. The jonin from Kusagakure who had recently become the hospital's newest admitte was about to awaken from a short coma. It started with several minutes of non-stop fidgeting from the short blue haired woman and murmuring of some kind of message. The nurse who had been keeping an eye on her sat in a comfy chair by the open window with a clipboard and wrote down her observations of the jonin. The kunoichi then turned onto her side, facing the sun and stopped moving. Her breathing slowed as well, causing the nurse to rush to check her vitals.

As soon as the nurse's hand made contact with her, the jonin grabbed the woman's wrists defensively and commanded, "Where am I?"

"You're awake!" the nurse excitedly announced to no one in particular. The jonin's mouth curved in confusion as the nurse backed away. The woman ran out of the room to fetch one of the village's more prestigious medical shinobi, leaving the now very much confused Kusagakure kunoichi alone.

Hitomi sat up in her hospital bed and scratched her head, when she felt bandages tied around it, "Why is it so dark in here?"

The jonin brought her hands to her face and pulled the bandage covering her eyes down. And that's when she saw it-absolutely nothing. The remnants of her eyeballs had been surgically removed and her eyelids sewn shut, so to her, she was simply surrounded by darkness.

"Is this a genjutsu?" she turned her head, believing that she was looking around and tried to open her eyelids. Finally, she brought her hands to her eyes and felt the stitching along her eyes and face. She could remember being in a fight of some sort before waking up, maybe she'd been taken hostage or maybe this was just what it felt like to be dead?

The jonin brought her hands down and felt around her surroundings and what she was wearing. The way the surface below her felt, she knew it was obviously a bed, but her apparel felt very thin and she wasn't wearing her flak jacket or any equipment. She then felt her arms, where there was a piece of tape and a tube attached.

"Am I being experimented on?" the kunoichi ripped off the tape and tube and shifted her body around so she could leave the bed she was on. The jonin could feel an intense pain in her right leg as well as the bandages that were wrapping it, but she decided to risk it and continued to shift off the bed. When she finally had her legs over the edge and stood, she fell immediately to the cold, hard floor. In the distance, she heard a door being opened and footsteps that advanced towards her.

The nurse rushed to her, flabbergasted, "Oh no, please don't move, you're still injured!" The jonin felt arms grab onto her and lift her up, laying her back on the bed. Another set of footsteps advanced towards the jonin.

"So this is the Kusagakure kunoichi our scouts found in the woods last week?" an older woman's voice called. The jonin turned her head in the direction of where the voice had come from, "Hey kid, are you listening to me?"

The jonin pointed a finger at herself, "Me?"

"Yes, you," the footsteps grew closer, as did the older woman's voice, "Do you remember anything? Your name maybe?"

"Who are you?" the jonin demanded.

"I'm the Hokage of Konoha, Tsunade," the older woman, who identified herself as Tsunade, responded, "Now back to my question; who are you?"

The jonin was satisfied with the Hokage's response and finally answered her question, "I'm Hitomi Maeda of Kusagakure."

"Well, you remember your name, that's a start," she heard Tsunade sigh. The Hokage looked down at the loose IV that Hitomi had ripped off of herself and picked it up, "Now, do you remember what happened to you?"

Hitomi tensed up as she tried to remember, "I was sent on a mission to deliver a message to your ladyship from the Daimyo of Kusa when I was intercepted. I recall a fight but nothing afterwards."

Tsunade scratched her chin in thought, "My scouts found you in the forest outside of Konoha last week barely alive and brought you here. Since then, you've been in a coma. I'm surprised you remember so much."

Hitomi scratched her head again, taking all that the Hokage had said in, "Where are my things?"

"On the floor by your bed," she bent over, picking the clothes up and setting them in the empty space by the jonin's side, "I don't recall finding a message on you at all however; perhaps your assailants took it?"

"I must get it back," the kunoichi groaned feeling around for her flak jacket and trying to throw it on, when a hand on her arm stopped her.

"I wouldn't go after your assailants in your state," she heard the Hokage's voice warn. The hand moved from her arm, "Now that you're awake, we can finally get to your operation."

Hitomi tensed up at the phrase, "What operation?"

This time the nurse who sat on the other side of her responded, "Your eyes; there were only small pieces left of them when we found you that we had to clean out your eye holes and sew them shut to prevent you from bleeding to death. We weren't sure if you'd ever wake up, so we postponed putting in your replacements, but now that you're fully functioning, we can!"

"My eyes," Hitomi felt her eyes, remembering when the shinobi had stabbed into them with his short blade. She tried to rip open the stitching as she screamed, "My eyes!"

The nurse pulled her hands away and chided her, "Don't do that!" She let her arms fall to her sides and calmed down.

"Replacing my eyes?" she finally asked while feeling the stitches that held her eyes closed again, "How long will that take?"

The older woman's voice again; "The operation will take a day to complete. But three days to prepare for."

"I take it that means I'll be waiting around here for three day?" Hitomi sighed and laid back down on her back.

"Actually, while we're waiting for your operation, you might as well build up your strength," the jonin could almost hear the Hokage on the cusp of an idea, "I'm going to send for a guide to show you around Konoha. In the meantime, the nurse will help you get dressed and walk you out to meet them." Hitomi heard the Hokage's footsteps quickly leave the room.

The nurse timidly stepped over to the kunoichi who was still facing the door, "Um..."

Hitomi turned her head in the direction of the nurse's voice, "Just hand me my clothes, I can dress myself fine."

Since she was still injured, the nurse strayed away from allowing Hitomi to wear her regular Kusagakure uniform, instead opting for a loose rouge yukata with black trim and her Kusagakure headband around her neck. The timid woman wrapped the kunoichi's hands and legs in wraps and re-wrapped her eyes with soft white bandages. Tsunade also made sure that the nurse gave her a cane, since she was still recovering from numerous injuries including a broken leg. Hitomi was led out of the hospital to a tree nearby, which she used to support herself while she awaited the guide Tsunade mentioned.

While she waited she tried her best to remember everything that had happened before she awoke. She could recall a delivery for Tsunade and being stabbed in the eyes. But she didn't know what the letter that she was supposed to deliver was for but knew that the daimyo had put such importance on it that she had to get it back as soon as she could, no matter what Tsunade said. At least if she found the rogues and the letter but was outnumbered again, she could destroy the letter before she died.

The jonin then heard what sounded like a dog barking nearby. Hitomi turned her head in the direction of the barking as it continued to draw closer. She pushed her back to the tree and held her free hand out and felt a patch of fur. Hitomi continued to feel around until she found the bottom of the furry beast before her's chin. She scratched it and cooed, "I feel a large, magnificent beast before me~!"

"I guess this is her," a voice of a young man called from several feet away. Hitomi ignored it and continue to scratch under the beast's chin as it happily barked and wagged its tail. A set of footsteps came closer to her, "Tsunade said you were blind..."


	2. Chapter 2

**_Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Naruto or any of its trademarks, characters, places, etc._**

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**-2-**

"I'm not blind, I just have no eyes," the Kusagakure courier bluntly answered the voice while she leaned against a tree outside of the Konoha hospital. More footsteps continued towards her as she scratched the chin of the furry beast before her.

"Tsunade told me that I would be your guide for the next three days," the young man's voice continued as the footsteps stopped a few feet from her, "My name is Kiba Inuzuka and that _magnificent beast_ you're petting is Akamaru."

Hitomi dropped her hand from Akamaru's chin and stayed silent; she had no interest in playing friendly with Konoha shinobi while she couldn't see where their hands were.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"That isn't important," she changed the topic, "Can you fight?"

She could hear the surprise in this person who identified himself as Kiba's voice, "Yeah, I'm a shinobi. Why do you ask?"

"Good, help me get my flak jacket and katana from the hospital," Hitomi gave a confident grin; "We're going after a group of rogues."

"Um…"

"Did I stutter Konoha shinobi?" if she had eyes, she would have glared at whatever that Kiba was.

"You're crippled," his voice was filled with confusion, "Why would you want to go hunting rogues?" Hitomi was beginning to become annoyed with all of the stalling from these Konoha shinobi, for all she knew, the rogues could be using the letter they stole from her to plot a coup on Kusagakure. And here she was, leaning on a tree with a cane, having to rely on others for help.

"If you won't help me, I'll do it myself."

"Listen, Tsunade told me specifically told me that you weren't to leave the village until the operation was complete," Kiba himself was starting to now get impatient.

"And those rogues _I'm_ going after have something that could possibly endanger both of our villages," she folded her arms and tapped her cane in front of her.

The Konoha shinobi groaned, this woman was making his job much more difficult than it needed to be, "Can't it just wait until after you get your damn surgery."

"Do I have a stuttering problem, Konoha shinobi, do I keep fucking stuttering?"

Kiba grabbed her arm, "Just follow me and shut up."

The Konoha Shinobi dragged the protesting Kusagakure courier to Konoha's Dango Shop. The two sat at a table across from one another with Akamaru sitting next to Kiba. Hitomi kept her arms crossed and faced to the right of where she assumed Kiba would be sitting.

He held a dango to her lips, "Can you please just eat it?"

"Not until you promise me you'll help me hunt down those rogues," she protested, moving her head from the dango.

Kiba's arm followed her, "I already told you that you can handle it after the operation. Can you eat it now; I don't need Tsunade mad at me because you're starving yourself."

"And I already told you, not until you promise to help me," she moved left to dodge the dango, "I don't need your Konoha food, Konoha Shinobi!"

"Just eat the damn dango already!" he shouted out of frustration. The rest of the occupants of the Dango shop turned to see the argument. Hitomi opened her mouth again to protest, but Kiba quickly took the opportunity to shove the dango in her mouth.

Hitomi grabbed her throat and started to choke out, "I…won't eat…your food….Konoha Shinobi!" She spat the dango out in the direction she thought Kiba was and instead hit a customer.

The Konoha shinobi sighed, holding his head up with his hand, "You're making this harder than it has to be…"

"Your lack of concern leaves me appalled," Hitomi grabbed her cane that sat on the seat next to her and began to totter out of the shop and into random customers, "I'm going to find those rogues on my own…after I locate a bar."

"It's still morning," Kiba called to her as he jumped to his feet and followed after her, which wasn't saying much since she only took one step every minute. The courier slowly stumbled down the street, striking the ground with her cane to give her a clue of her surroundings.

"I don't care," she mumbled, as she struck her cane into someone's foot. She heard a loud shout and was pushed into another person, that person being Kiba.

"Sorry," Kiba called to the man and helped Hitomi get back to her feet, "Tsunade won't want you drinking this early, and you're already crippled enough now."

"I don't care," she repeated as she dusted herself off and continued down the crowded street, striking several more people in the feet with her cane until the entire street had given her a clear path to walk. Kiba had to continually call out 'sorry' as he followed her. One rather large man stood right in Hitomi's way however, waiting for her to strike him, and when she did, he grabbed her by her yukata.

"Whatchu hit me for punk!" he shouted straight into her face, as pieces of saliva flew onto her face.

Kiba rushed up to his side, "I'm so sorry, she's blind and didn't see-"

"Let the punk talk, eh!" the large man shouted once again, cutting Kiba off.

The courier just smirked, "I dare you to hit me, I seriously dare you!"

"She didn't mean that," Kiba nervously negotiated, trying to pull her from the man's clutches.

"You dare me, punk? You seriously dare me?" the large man chuckled as he ignored the Konoha shinobi's pleas.

"Yeah I fucking _dare_ you!" she egged him on, tapping on the bandages that covered her left eye-hole, "Right here."

The large man didn't need to be pushed any further and chuckled at the whole situation. He didn't realize that Hitomi was a kunoichi and could figure out the location of his face from the angle at which his fist hit her face. So he took the dare and pulled one arm back, then struck her right where he eye would have been. Before he could pull his arm back, she grabbed it with one hand and struck him in the cane with the other. The large man dropped her to grab his aching head, letting Kiba catch her and race away with Akamaru.

"Hey, where you goin' punk! Get back here so I can slug you one again!" the large man called after them.

Kiba decided then that she'd probably much easier to deal with drunk.

About eleven drinks into Shushuya and a fat check later, Hitomi was slumped out on her stool while Kiba and Akamaru sat next to her waiting until she finished. She held both hands out on the bar to keep her up and called out, "Heeeeeey kiddo how old are you anyway?"

"Seventeen," Kiba grumbled in response.

"Awww, that's so sad," she held up an empty bottle of sake and leaned back on her stool, "'Cause you Konoha folks reaaaaaaally know how to make a drink. My friend Arata back home can make a mean brew but this is amaaaaaazing!"

Expecting her to fall off her stool, Kiba held an arm out and caught her before she damaged herself any more. He got up, grabbing her cane and carried her out of the restaurant, "I'm taking you back to the hospital."

"But kiddo, I think we're getting somewhere here. You're like, my escort right? Escort me around more, I don't wanna go back there," she protested, although drunkenly.

"Nope and I'm going to ask Tsunade to give you a different escort," he continued as he dragged her through the street. Hitomi didn't want to go back to the hospital just to so she could lie around or worse, get reprimanded by a bunch of people she couldn't see because she went drinking. Kiba, however, was sick of dealing with someone who was as stubborn as she was.

"You're giving up on me already? C'mon kiddo, we've spent like what, two hours together?" she grabbed onto his back for support, "Hey let's start over, my name's Hitomi. What's yours kiddo?"

"I told you that two hours ago," he grumbled, "And if I told you it now, you'd probably forget it again anyway."

"C'mon kiddo, we can all be chummy now!" she gave a nervous laugh, "Y'know what hurts?"

He sighed as they neared the hospital, "What."

"Being broke, blind, and bedlam."

Hitomi was dragged back into the hospital and handed off to the nurse who she had awoken to earlier. She brought her back to her room while Kiba went off to beg the Hokage to revoke his escort job. The nurse was quite cross about how drunk Hitomi was, and told she would be forced to drink water and eat all day.

After the nurse put her IV in and left, Hitomi sat in the chair by the window, which had been pushed to face the window, soaking in the sunlight that poured into the room. The door creaked open and she could hear footsteps enter the room.

"Don't worry, don't worry. I can drink this water by myself," Hitomi called back, holding the sippy cup of water up for who she assumed was the nurse to see. When she received no reply and heard the footsteps continue, she prepared herself for what she assumed was an attack. Instead the footsteps stopped at the window in front of her. She heard what sounded like a body slump down and sighing.

"The Hokage said I was stuck with you." Hitomi broke out into maniacal laughter at this. So the Konoha shinobi had come to tell her that his big plan to quit had backfired on him.

"That's just rich, just rich!" she continued to laugh.

"She said I had to stay with you every day until your surgery until dusk," he continued to groan. Hitomi began to keel over in laughter, dropping her sippy cup at her feet while the Konoha shinobi just glared at her.

"I bet you don't even remember my name," he challenged her. Hitomi had to think about it. She did recall him mention it and it shouldn't be that hard to remember, considering he was one of the only people that she had come into contact with since awakening from her coma.

"It's um...it's Kiba."

"You...remembered," she could hear the surprise in Kiba's voice, "I guess you aren't just a stupid drunk after all."

"A stupid drunk!" she was taken aback, "I am jonin of Kusagakure and their finest courier! My memory and vision are my most valuable assets!"

"I'm not sure you can really consider your vision that anymore," Kiba chuckled, "Considering your lack of eyes."

"Whatever the case, now that you're here, we can discuss our plans to get that letter back."

"I've told you this already, you can't go after anyone in your state," he sighed, he didn't have the patience to argue with her about that again.

"Ok, maybe we won't go after them today, but maybe you can track them down for me to handle after my surgery, eh? I'm sure there are plenty of tracking dogs in this village," she motioned over to her bed where her belongings sat, "There should be a short blade in my things, one of my attackers used it and it should have his scent still on it."

"Haha! I could track it myself," he boasted, rummaging through her things for the short blade.

"I don't know what you mean, but whatever. As long as I get that letter back I don't care," she scratched her head in thought, "Now I'm pretty sure I fainted not so far from your village gates, so that would be the first place I'd look if I were you. You can take my headband if need be."

Hitomi pulled her headband from her neck and held it out to where she thought Kiba was. He leaned over and grabbed it and continued to look through her things until he found the short blade wrapped in cloth in her bag.

"I'm not sure I want to help you in the first place, what if you're leading me into a trap?" he questioned.

"How does that make any sense? Am I stuttering again Konoha shinobi?" she shook her head at his logic, "How about this, if you do this for me, I'll make the next few days for you a cakewalk, eh? The stress of losing the letter is my problem and you tracking it will make me so much mellower."

Kiba considered it for a moment then finally gave in; "Fine, I'll search for it."

"Thank you Konoha shinobi!"


	3. Chapter 3

**_Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Naruto or any of its trademarks, characters, places, etc._**

_So here's a funny story, I wrote the chapters from here on out backwards. By that I mean, I started at the epilogue and wrote every chapter from the end to this one last. Funny right? That means when you see this chapter then the entire story's done._

_Now that's funny._

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**-3-**

Kiba took Hitomi's headband and the short blade that had been used to carve her eyes out and went to search the forests outside of Konohagakure with Akamaru. While he still had a tiny pinch of skepticism about Hitomi's story, he knew that it would shut her up for a few days and that was alright with him. If what she had told him was true, he wouldn't have a hard time tracking her attackers down, so it was an easy deal.

Hitomi meanwhile stayed at the hospital awaiting his finds. Her nurse had returned to check up on her and found that she had dropped her bottle of water so she went to fetch a new one. When she returned she found the strange Kusa courier sitting in the open window that overlooked her bed. It surprised her to find that the disabled kunoichi had managed to find her way to the window and open it without falling out or otherwise injuring herself. So her nurse handed her the bottle and left her to bathe in the glow of the remaining afternoon sun.

There was no secret as to how Hitomi had managed to find her way around the room for once. After Kiba had left, she decided to make a mental map of the room by feeling around every wall and piece of furniture and walking from wall to wall, counting her steps to make a rough estimate of the distance in between. With it, she was able to look much more directly at her nurse when she came to give her another bottle of water. Overall, it was quite an amazing stunt for someone who wasn't completely sober, but Hitomi had made a living out of managing through rough situations so it was rather something she was likely to do anyway.

Kiba meanwhile, had found a dried puddle of blood not too far from the village gates with Akamaru. By following the scent from Hitomi's headband that she had given him, he was able to quickly locate it. He was sure it was safe to assume that that was the spot where the Kusa courier had bled out. The Konoha shinobi pulled out the short blade that was wrapped in rags to use to find the scent of the rogues. He sniffed it for a scent then held it out to Akamaru so that he too could give it a sniff as well. When the two were acquainted enough with the scent, they began their search through the nearby trees north of their location.

After having jumped through several rows of shrubbery, the duo found a camp that they assumed belonged to the rogues that Hitomi had spoken of. Large black stars were painted on all of the tents and numerous heavily armed shinobi were patrolling the camp.

"Wow...maybe she was right about them being a threat Akamaru," Kiba noted to his companion, "I mean, look at all of these guys. This is the size of a small army!" The Konoha shinobi watched the patrol's movements for a while and instead of opting to strike, he and Akamaru fled back to the Konoha Hospital to report back what they had found to the Kusa courier.

When Kiba returned, he found Hitomi in her spot in the window, "So you've returned?"

"How'd you know it was me?" he questioned, walking over to the window she sat at.

"Well," she turned to where she heard his footsteps, "You did just admit that it was you to me. But also because I heard you walk in. And the only two people who I know that have plans to visit me are you and my nurse."

"I could be one of those rogue shinobi about to attack you, y'know," he suggested.

"If that were the case, I could just fall from this window and escape," she felt around for the handle to the window and opened it up to explain.

"Wait-it's just me!" he rushed over to stop her, but she just closed the window again.

"I've done worse things," she sighed and turned over to him, "Like the time I fought this Akatsuki grunt and had all of my limbs broken."

"And I tried crawling after him but he just stabbed me in the hand with my own sword! But I didn't stop, I kept following him...eh..." the memory brought a mix of sadness and laughter, "Maybe I'll tell you the whole story another time."

Kiba sat across from her on her hospital bed, "I was able to track those rogues you were talking about."

"Really? So what'd you find? Are they close to the village?"

"Yeah, they've got a pretty big encampment not too far from where I found your dried blood," he recalled, "But there are a lot of them, so I would suggest you not try to go after them."

"Not go after them!" to this, Hitomi furiously ripped the bandages from her eyes, letting Kiba see the cuts and stitches around her eyes, "Look what they did to me! If you were in my place-alone in some village you've never seen before without any friends, any familiarity, what would you do!"

The Konoha shinobi let his face drop to the floor, "If you went after them in your current state, you would die."

"I would never let my country down," she sighed, "The daimyo counts on me as one of his fiercely loyal couriers to deliver important messages and play the role as an ambassador of peace for my country. Allowing a single message to fall into enemy hands could mean the deaths of thousands of innocents."

She turned her head away from him again, "I cannot just sit in this hospital and wait as my people are at risk, you would do the same for your village I assume."

"How about this," he proposed, "You wait to get that letter back once you're better. In the meantime, I can teach you how to use your other senses to their fullest potential-since I happen to be an expert on it."

"An expert...on using senses?" this surprised her, "Are you some kinda sensory nin?"

"Something like that."

"So, how does this sensory training stuff work?" she asked, a bit suspicious of him and his methods.

"Basically, I'm going to test you by having you sniff three different things in this room and asking you what they are," he explained stepping over to a table next to her bed and snatching a vase of flowers.

He held it up to her nose, "Don't touch, just smell. What is it?"

She sniffed the flowers, "These are...flowers?"

"Correct," he snuck a hand in her bag and pulled out a container of herbs and held it up to her to smell.

"What is this?"

She took a few sniffs, "Cinnamon...hey did you take that from my bag?"

He didn't answer, but asked, "Final round, what's this?" She sniffed the third item and reached out to touch, but Kiba pushed her hands back.

"Sniff don't touch."

"Kiba I swear if you just put your ass in front of my face-I will kill you."

A few minutes after their _sensory training_, Hitomi's nurse came in with food and to talk to her about possibilities for her replacement eyes. Noticing the ripped bandages on the floor, she re-wrapped her head.

"So what will the eyeballs actually look like?" Hitomi asked.

"Regular eyeballs," her nurse explained, "Unless you ask for anything special like some kind of upgrade for sight or something."

"Upgrade, hmm?" she thought about it for a moment, "What kinds of upgrades could I purchase-any that could help with my job as a courier?"

"I'm not sure...I'll ask Tsunade if you want?" she asked, taking the emptied tray.

"That would be great, especially what color they'll be."

The following day Kiba decided to take Hitomi to a park for more_ sensory training,_ which she was still quite suspicious of. Of course, managing to get to said park involved going down a series of staircase, one of which Hitomi managed to tumble down.

"I thought you were suppose to be my guide!" she shouted upon reaching the bottom, "I don't need a concussion as well!"

"Well watch where you walk!"

"How am I suppose to do that without eyes you idiot!"

When they finally arrived at the park, Hitomi decided to sit alone by a tree to _meditate_ but in reality, hoping to sneak a drink of some sake she had hid within her yukata without him noticing it. As she was taking her first swig Kiba and Akamaru walked over to her tree and sat by her.

"Hey, I thought your nurse told you that you couldn't drink again!" he reprimanded her.

"Can the nurse see me now? I don't think so, so I don't care," she sarcastically retorted.

Before she could take another swig, Kiba snatched her bottle from her hands. Following the sound of the drink swishing around the bottle, Hitomi was able to grab it back. Of course, this caused Kiba to take it again and run off with it.

"God dammit!" Hitomi grunted, using her cane to climb to her feet, "Give me back my sake you moron!"

"Come get it!" he teased. Hitomi followed his voice across the park, "It looks like you're walking much better." When Hitomi was close enough, she stuck her cane into the ground and used it to catapult herself at Kiba's voice, knocking him over and taking her sake back.

She took another swig of it then finally thought aloud, "Y'know now that I think about it, I don't know what you look like." She grabbed his face in an awkward movement and felt around, noting the parts and tracing his lips with a finger tip. The mood seemed almost romantic until she stopped at his nose.

"Oh Grandma, what a big nose you have."

"At least I smell better than you," he retorted.

"If _better_ means like a wet dog," she shot back.

"Well at least I don't reek of sake," he continued, "Sake breath." Hitomi ignored him and took another swig of her sake.

"Y'know, if you keep sitting around and drinking, you'll never get that letter back," he reminded her.

"Well even if I didn't drink, who'd assist me?" she replied, "It's the same no matter what. No one helped me when my cousin was kidnapped. No one's made an attempt to help me get my letter back, so what do you expect me to do?"

"How about spend more time focusing on simply recovering?"

"I'm so sick of people making up excuses as to why they can't help, it's sickning!" she threw her arms up and shouted.

"But you have no chance against all of those rogues alone," he explained, "They have an entire cam-"

"Would you help me against them after surgery then?"

"I will."

"You have to promise."

"Then I promise," he announced, "I will help you retrieve your letter."

Her stomach growled, "Now can we get some food already?"

"I thought you didn't need that Konoha Food," he snickered.

"I don't care if it's poisoned, I'm dyyyyyyyyyyyyying of hunger!" she whined. So as per Hitomi's request, Kiba brought her back to the hospital without having her fall down another flight of stairs to get some grub.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Naruto or any of its trademarks, characters, places, etc._**

_About the whole writing all of the chapters backwards…it's not as weird as it sounds actually. Whenever I'm doing a story I usually write long outlines for every chapter which basically include every single movement and thought every character makes. I had the outlines for this, My Favorite Harlequin, part of The Blond and the Blonde, and another unpublished story done for a while. And the word count for each outlined chapter is usually half of my average word count per chapter so…_

* * *

**-4-**

Back at the hospital, the nurse brought the duo food and returned to check up on Hitomi while Kiba sat in the windowsill across from her. In addition to that, she mentioned that she had talked to Tsunade about any upgrades that could be put in the eyes as well as their cost. The first of the upgrades to her eyes that she explained were the eye scope.

"An eye scope?" Hitomi thought from her chair by the window as she scratched her chin, "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, the eye would be able to see extremely far distances, like a scope, but with the benefit of not having to actually wear a scope," the nurse explained, "And you can have this upgrade for one or both eyes if you wanted to."

"Hmm," the Kusa courier considered it, "That would be helpful since I _am_ a courier. Maybe it'll help me spot an ambush at a distance next time…do you have something to combat genjutsu?"

"Um, I think so," the nurse recalled what Tsunade had told her, "It can see through most weaker genjutsu but it wouldn't really level the playing field if you were to fight an expert genjutsu user. For that you would need to consult someone who sells equipment of that sort."

When the nurse left, Kiba took the opportunity to ask, "So what's Kusa like? I've never been there."

"Oh it's a miserable village, except for the drinks. I'm friends with this kid whose clan makes this really great sake so I can buy it at a discount, but otherwise, it's a miserable place," she admitted to him, "So what's Konoha like?"

"Well it's big," he scratched the back of his neck trying to think of a way to describe it, "And it's full of life and pretty festive."

"Sounds like the foil of Kusa," she muttered under her breath.

"That's got me thinking though, how would I describe it to someone who'd been born blind," he pondered.

"I wouldn't know…but living without sight is as miserable as Kusa, minus the drinks," she scoffed, "I guess you Konoha people live without taste or something since all of your hospital food tastes like plastic."

"Not all food in Konoha is bad, Akamaru's is pretty good. I prefer it," he explained.

The idea shocked Hitomi, "What kind of person would enjoy eating dog food…"

"I would."

"Oh that's right, big nose would," she sighed.

"Sake breath," he retorted.

"Speaking of sake, my cousin used to have this really large collection of alcohol that she'd gathered over the years," Hitomi thought back to better times and licked her lips, "And she'd invited me over to taste-test it-y'know, before she was kidnapped-and it was really great."

"You never really told me that much about your family…"

"Oh them," she thought, "Well, I live with my parents and aunt. My uncle ran away before I was born to join some gang and my cousin and I were raised like sisters. My family owns this store in Kusa which I help run and we're pretty renowned for our collection of poisons, my dad's a really great herbalist."

Hitomi figured that all of that might have gone over Kiba's head, but he then asked; "And your cousin?"

"You might have heard of her," Hitomi rubbed the back of her neck, "Although I'd prefer that you didn't."

"What, you jealous I'd like your cousin better?" he snickered.

Hitomi's cheeks lite up in embarrassment and she mumbled, "Considering I've never seen how ugly you are in person…"

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Seriously, though, it's not a jealousy thing is it?" he questioned.

"No it's not that…" Hitomi tried to explain, "She's a porn star-or well, she used to be."

"Oh I understand," he replied, although he had to admit, it made him even more curious about her cousin.

"I haven't seen her in two years," she sighed, "And that probably wouldn't be the case if people didn't constantly make up excuses to search for her."

"Hmm…"

She decided to change the subject before she began to rant about Kusa's government any more; "So what about your family?"

"I'm from the Inuzuka clan. I live with my sister Hana and my mother. She um…kinda scared away my father," he gave a small laugh; "We're pretty renowned for out ninken."

"Never heard of them," she bluntly replied, "But you've probably never heard of the Maeda clan either have you?"

"Nope."

"Sounds like we're pretty even when it comes to being complete unknowns."

The following day Hitomi was practicing walking again with her cane when Kiba came for his usual morning visit. It was the final day the two would have before her surgery with Tsunade to replace her eyes. He watched her from his usual spot on the windowsill and asked, "Are you ready for your surgery tomorrow?"

She focuses on balancing and not walking into anything when he continued to ask, "Do you need my help anymore?"

"Considering I'm still without eyes," she reminded him, concentrating on her footwork, "You still have the job."

She paced over to her chair that sat across from the window that Kiba frequented and sat in it with her legs crossed, "Although I must admit, I'm worried that when I have my vision back, I'll think differently about you."

"Hmm, what do you mean? You'll realize how ruggedly handsome I am and feel awful for calling me big nose?" he snickered.

"I'm not sure," she thought about it, a bit embarrassed, "Although I'm sure when I see you I'll think about how awkward it's been to be guided around by some hunchback with a big nose…"

"Well, you'll still reek of sake," he retorted.

Before she could comment back, she heard the door of her room open again and what she believed to be the footsteps of two people entering and walking towards her.

"Hitomi, it's me, Tsunade, I've come to talk to you," the Hokage called to her as she walked in, "I wanted to inform you a bit about tomorrow's operation."

"Hmm?"

"We're going to start early tomorrow morning and finish most likely before the afternoon," the older woman explained the procedure, "We'll be inserting your replacement eyes in but you won't have immediately have your sight back. The nerve endings will need a day to adjust to the replacements, especially with the upgrades you've chosen for them. So you will be confined to the hospital for the entirety of tomorrow."

"That's alright," she turned to where she recognized Kiba's voice, "As long as Kiba visits."

Tsunade looked over at Kiba expectantly after she said that.

"Don't worry, I'll visit," he assured her.

The Hokage folded her arms and in a tone that Hitomi could consider to be that of suspicion, mentioned, "I'm surprised that the two of you have gotten along so well…"

"Besides the whole big nose and sake breath stuff, eh?" Hitomi whispered so that only Kiba could hear.

Tsunade cleared her throat and spoke, "I'd like to also introduce to you one of my apprentices who will be helping with the surgery-Sakura Haruno."

"I thought I heard someone else come in," Hitomi noted.

"Ah your other senses may have become more focused with your loss of vision," Tsunade mumbled.

Her apprentice walked over to the group, although Hitomi could not see her, she had a soft voice, that of someone who was much younger than herself, "Hi, I'm Sakura, I'll be assisting Lady Tsunade with your operation!"

"Make sure to be ready for tomorrow," the Hokage reminded her, "We will see you then." Hitomi wasn't sure if by that she meant _she_ would see _them_ or _they_ would see _her_, but the two medical nin left the room, leaving Kiba and her to resume their conversation.

"I want to sneak out tomorrow," Hitomi admitted, "It'll be boring staying in bed all day."

"Didn't you just hear her? You'll get in so much trouble if you try to sneak out," he sighed, "You could get me in trouble too."

"What if I promised not to try to take my bandages or stitches out?" she suggested, "Could we go visit a hot spring? I've heard about Konoha's hot spring district but I've never had the pleasure of trying it."

"Would you be able to bathe without your sight?" he imagined it; having to help her undress and redress at the hot springs and everyone thinking that he was a pervert, "Ugh…"

"I'm not that inept," she reminded him, "I have other senses I can use!"

"As long as you actually use them; I'll take you today."

"That sounds great!"

When Kiba walked her to the hot springs, he realized he should have made her promise to use those other senses that she said she would use. While he was undressing Hitomi managed to quickly undress and hop into the men's bath, much to his displeasure of having to drag her out. Then of course, she mistook it as him being on the girl's side and the situation spiraled into a long drawn out battle over who was on the wrong side.

And of course, there were mentions of having big noses and smelling of sake as per their usual arguments.

When Hitomi realized that Kiba was right and that she was in the wrong bath, she became quite embarrassed and whispered to him, "So that's why it's so quiet in here…."

He pulled her out and brought her over to the other side without having to look inside of it, "Listen Hitomi, we'll meet out in the middle in an hour…please don't run around the district naked or something else equally stupid."

"Hey I'm not a child, I'm just blind!" Luckily when they met in the middle again, she hadn't managed to get into any more shenanigans.

"Wow that felt really great," she admitted while sitting on a bench across from Kiba, drying her hair off, "Kusa needs one of these."

"I never asked; what's Kusa have anyway?" Kiba asked, putting his sandals back on.

"Well…there's a lot of mushrooms and bamboo in the forests," she recalled, "And bridges, but we've had really bad luck with them being destroyed during wars. We also have a lot of diplomats and farmers…and diplomat farmers."

"Diplomat farmers?"

Later that evening when Kiba finally returned her to the hospital, he noticed that something about her behavior seemed a bit off, she looked as though she was upset over something so he inquired, "You didn't leave something back at the hot springs did you?"

"No it's not that," she admitted, "I'm just…afraid."

"Of what, the surgery?"

"Not just the surgery…well, afraid you won't visit," she explained.

"I told you I'd visit you early, and I promise I will," he reassured her.

"And you'll help me get the letter back?" she asked.

"I'll do that too," he replied as he was walking away, "Good luck with the surgery."

She turned towards where his voice was coming from, "I'm pretty sure I'll need it."


	5. Chapter 5

**_Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Naruto or any of its trademarks, characters, places, etc._**

_This is the second to last chapter, oh boy._

* * *

**-5-**

The following morning, as planned, the nurse came to the Kusa courier's room and hooked her up to an IV and wheeled her out of her old hospital room and into a hallway. The anticipation of the surgery was making Hitomi feel sick especially with each passing bump they went over towards the operating room. At the same time, she also knew that very soon she would be welcomed again to a world that was bright and full of colors.

The bed hit another bump causing Hitomi to jolt up. She could hear the short whispers of the Hokage and her apprentice, Sakura. The rolling stopped a bit later and she could feel someone holding her up by her shoulders and another person unwrapping the bandages from around her head.

"This will only sting for a little bit," she heard the apprentice assure her. She felt what she guessed was some sort of numbing agent being shot into both of her eyelids. It worked fast and her eyelids, although already stitched down, began to feel like boulders on her face.

There was a small clattering of metal and then she felt two fingers pushing the skin of her upper cheek and eyelid apart and the snipping of the stitches that held them together. It didn't hurt as the stitches were pulled out, it just felt funny. The procedure was done for both eyes and her eyelids were then forced open again and taped open with, what she felt to be some sort of adhesive medical tape.

"Sakura, the eyes," Tsunade called. Hitomi heard footsteps clattering over to a counter and the sound of water splashing against a glass surface. She assumed the replacement eyes had been stored in some sort of jar and suspended in liquid.

"Careful, careful," Tsunade chided her apprentice as her footsteps moved back over to Hitomi.

Hitomi heard what she assumed was said jar being opened and one of the eyes being removed. A hand then returned to her face by her left cheek, holding her eye socket in place while something was dropped into it and fitted by a set of fingers. At the same time, her nerves were moved around the replacement eye. Once again, the procedure was done for the right eye as well.

The next thing Hitomi wasn't so sure about, but she thought that she felt the nerves and muscle tissue of her eye sockets being guided with some sort of medical jutsu around the replacements to hold them in place. At this point, she couldn't actually see, but she could move the eyeballs around on her own.

"Hold on, don't move them too much, let me adjust them for a moment," she heard Tsunade tell her. Fingers stuck in her eye sockets and turned the eyeballs around a bit, "That's better." Hitomi felt some other layer being added on top of the eyeballs. She wasn't sure what it was exactly, but it made them feel moist as regular eyes did.

"Everything is now finished Hitomi. I'm going to re-stitch your eyes up to allow the nerve endings to adjust to the replacements for the day. Don't try to take the stitches out or you might damage your eyes," Tsunade explained. The numbing agent was still going, so Hitomi couldn't feel the pain of the needle going back through her eyelid and upper cheek. Her upper body was pulled up again while her head was once again bandaged.

"I'm going to wheel you back to your room," she heard the nurse call to her as the bed began to shake again, "So you should get some sleep before your friend arrives later."

Hitomi took advantage of that and slept in late into the afternoon. She figured that she would need all of the sleep she could get since she would have a lot of fighting in store for her the following day. When she awoke, her nurse helped her over to her seat by the window so she could wait for Kiba.

She continued to wait by the window until she was sure that he had ditched her and was about to return to her bed. The door to her hospital room slammed open and she heard the scrapping of feet towards her.

"Hey Hitomi, sorry I'm late," she heard Kiba apologize.

"I thought you wouldn't show up," she softly admitted holding a hand out to search for his location. Thanks to the training her had given her, she managed to locate him within a single movement.

"Oh, I brought you some dango," he moved the hand from his arm down to the package of dango in his hands, "Y'know, the thing you tried to spit at me before." She opened the package and took out a dango, taking a bite and returning to her chair by the window. Kiba and Akamaru sat across from her on the windowsill.

"I'm afraid the operation won't work," she sighed between bites.

"What do you mean? Tsunade's the greatest medical nin around there's no way she could fail," he reassured her as he sat the box of dango on the end table next to her chair.

"Hmm, even if it does…I wonder if things will look the same. I mean, I won't know until I return to Kusa since I've never seen Konoha," she reached over and took another dango, "I've never _seen_ you either, I wonder what I'll think of you when I can actually see you."

"I can bet you won't be as annoying," he laughed.

"I bet your nose will still be big," she retorted.

"And you'll still have sake breath."

"Whatever the case," she changed the subject, "Are you prepared for our assault tomorrow?"

"I'm ready as long as you're able enough."

"Once my sight is back I'll be fine," she started on her third dango, "Don't worry about me."

The two sat and talked to one another for a little longer before Kiba and Akamaru left. Hitomi decided to exercise for a bit and even dressed herself in her old garb; her stripped dark green turtleneck, flak jacket, her pants, sandals, her long scarf that she tied around her waist and draped across her neck, and of course her forehead protector. Since she hadn't worn her old gear for quite some time, she felt a bit encumbered by all of it, but after a while she once again got used to all of it.

When her nurse came in to deliver her dinner, she noticed Hitomi lying on the floor doing crunches, "I know you want to practice a bit but you should relax!"

"I can't relax knowing that the daimyo's letter is still out of my reach," Hitomi grunted in between crunches, "Besides, I feel so much more alive right now!" Her nurse sat her tray of food on the end table and removed an empty package that once held dango. Hitomi stopped doing crunches and sat in her chair as her nurse was cleaning things up.

"Can you thank Kiba for me after I leave?" she asked while she wolfed down her food, "I have to prepare to leave for Kusa by dawn and I don't think I'll have time."

"Sure," the nurse told her, taking the emptied tray and leaving.

Hitomi sat in her chair and slept until she was awoken by the arrival of someone to her room. By the sound of their footsteps she assumed it was Tsunade and Sakura coming to remove the stitches late in the night.

"It's time to remove the stitches," a voice she recognized as Tsunade announced, confirming her assumption. She felt the bandages from head being removed once again and the sounds of some sort of medical scissors snipping away the stitches and pulling them out.

Hitomi opened her eyes and took the first real look of the room for the first time ever. Not only was she amazed by the fact that the procedure had worked, but the colors themselves dazzled her. The room was a muted yellow, she didn't know that even though she had spent at least a week in it. She finally saw the Hokage who looked down to her and pink-haired assistant.

"I figured that having you open your eyes when there wasn't that much light around would make it easier to adjust," Tsunade explained, "You can return to Kusa in the morning." With that the two left.

Hitomi was alone in the room and sat, taking in all of the colors still. She rushed to the window where she could finally see her new eyes. Instead of the emerald colored eyes she once had, they were hazel and looked almost mechanical. Hitomi then opened the window, feeling the cold night air and seeing the beautiful colors of the sky and moon together. She grabbed her things from the end of her bed and hopped down from the window to small roofing then slid down into a row of bushes.

When she looked around the outside of the hospital she saw the tree that she remembered leaning on for the first time and the fence that surrounded the hospital, the streets she had never seen and the buildings. She followed the maze of buildings and street lamps to the large red gates that led to the outside world. When she finally reached the giant red gates she took one last look back into Konoha. From a distance she could see two figures, but she wasn't sure who or what they were, rushing towards the gate. She recognized the smell of dog however.

"Hey Hitomi, what are you doing out here this late at night?" a brown haired boy with a black leather jacket called as he and a large white dog raced towards her. She had to admit, the boy wasn't that bad looking himself.

"You're Kiba?" she asked when he finally reached her. She looked him up and down, putting the face to the voice from her memories, "I'm amazed."

"It's because of how great I look right?" he boasted, holding his hands on his hips and posing.

"No, because your nose isn't as big as it felt," she explained. She could see his ego had been inflated by that and could scarcely hear what sounded like the phrase _sake breath_ pass his lips.

"So Hitomi, why are you trying to leave without me, I thought we had a deal?" he asked, "You spent almost every day complaining until I agreed to help you anyway."

"I realized that this is a mission that I must take alone," Hitomi explained in the most serious and airy tone she could muster, "As a courier of Kusa."

"You were outnumbered last time you faced them, remember the whole ordeal at the hospital?" he reminded her.

"I've got this."

"I recommend you bring me and Akamaru along."

"Well," her cheeks puffed up, "You can follow me around to the camp if you want-I mean I won't stop you or anything. But if you were to follow me, as you probably will anyway, I have dibs on the guy who blinded me."

"Do you even remember what he looks like?"

"Of course!" she reassured Kiba, "How could I forget the person who gauged two of my eyes out? He was the last person I saw before I slipped into that coma too."

"Are you sure you remember what he looks like? Because if we get to the camp and you get mad because you attacked the wrong person-"

"Let me know when I start to stutter again Konoha shinobi," she cut him off, pulling out the short blade.

"Whenever you're ready then," he sighed.


	6. Chapter 6

**_Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Naruto or any of its trademarks, characters, places, etc._**

* * *

**-6-**

Every moment that was wasted now counted even more so than it had before for Hitomi. Her eyes may have still been adjusting, but she, Kiba, and Akamaru took no time to rush into the forest outside Konohagakure to find the stolen daimyo's letter. With her new set of eyes, Hitomi could see at much more incredible distances and with enough of her own chakra applied to it, she could see through lower ranked genjutsu. She'd have to remember to thank the Hokage again for them.

Kiba and Akamaru sniffed around a bit while they jumped from tree branch to branch, "The camp isn't much farther now…"

They slowed their pace and Hitomi chuckled while tying the short blade around under her sleeve, "I can't wait to dive this into that rogue's fucking eyes and see how he likes it."

Kiba and Akamaru stopped on a branch causing Hitomi to stop as well, "Are you ready for this Hitomi?"

"I was born ready," she grinned, "Just show me where."

"Ok then," he and Akamaru began to ascend the tree they stood on with Hitomi following, "There's a good view of the camp from the top of this tree." When they reached the canopy of the tree she realized that he was right, it was a great view. She could see the camp with its large black stars perfectly, especially with her new eye's abilities.

"How do you wanna go about our attack?" he asked as Hitomi observed the camp. The rogue who carved her eyes out, whom she assumed was their leader, stood in the middle of the camp, alone, with multiple sets of guards circling the camp.

"I wanna rush in, grab their leader, and kill him," she admitted, "But I'm not going to be able to reach him without backup."

"Akamaru and I can do that, but watch your back," he warned her.

Hitomi noticed a tree not too far away that hung over the camp and jumped over to it, shouting back, "I'll attack first, just follow my lead." When she reached the tree she pulled the katana that was tied to her back out. Since she wasn't a long-range fighter, she had to get to the ground. Her plan was to position herself above one of the guards and jump down with the katana down, cutting the guard down and breaking her fall.

She stabbed her katana into the branch and performed several hand seals, then grabbed the handle of her katana to perform what she dubbed; _Fire Style: Burning Weapon Technique_. Her chakra moved from her body to her katana and transformed into flames which soon engulfed the katana and the tree she stood on. The branch soon turned to ashes and she began to drop. Hitomi aimed herself over to a nearby guard who was standing around and, blade first, cut him through.

The screech that emitted from the guard on contact and the burning tree that would soon fall into the camp alerted all of the camp's inhabitants to her. Several of the rogues who she recalled holding her down and the one who carved her in the eyes raced over to the scene with weapons drawn.

The leader stepped forward and looked her over, "Well, well, it appears that the Emerald-Eyed courier of Kusa not only lives but has a new set of eyes. And if I could guess, you've here for that letter."

Hitomi pointed her katana at the leader, "I want to fight you, one-on-one, without your little cronies like last time."

"You wish to duel me? How intriguing…" he turned to think for a moment. While Hitomi waited for his response, she glanced up to the tree where Kiba and Akamaru were waiting. She didn't want them to attack yet, not until she had the leader away from the group.

He turned back around to her and drew out another short blade, "I accept."

Hitomi watched as the guards all began to step away from their leader. He held his short blade out, ready to strike. In order to move him, Hitomi rushed him with her katana, which he dodged, then jumped back by the burning tree. He took the bait and body flickered towards her to strike.

The two exchanged strikes which they both dodged with Hitomi glancing over to Kiba and Akamaru every so often. Finding it to be an opportune time, she quickly pulled out a small shuriken and threw it into the branch the two were standing on as a signal to attack.

Akamaru jumped off first over the camp and used his Dynamic Marking on the guards who looked at the giant dog in confusion. Some of them were blinded by the piss that had been thrown into their eyes by the pouch's precision. Kiba then jumped off and over to Akamaru, grabbing onto him using another of their techniques to turn into a giant Double-Headed Wolf. Noticing the combination, Hitomi gave a large grin.

The leader looked back, noticing them and called to Hitomi, "I should have known you'd bring help!"

"I was almost dumb enough to not bring any," she chuckled, jumping back again to lead the leader to the other side of the burning tree. She knew it would fall soon and separate the the two of them from the rest of the camp.

The leader rushed at her, sending his short blade chopping straight down on her. She blocked it and jumped back again and stopped in time to see the tree fall through the camp as she thought it would. She could now no longer see the other side through the large flames, but assumed that Kiba was taking care of things by the sounds of shouts that could be heard from his side.

"Now your little buddies can't come to your rescue," the leader laughed, "This time, Emerald-Eyed courier, you will die!"

The leader jumped up and came down at her with intense speed and strength. Hitomi passed the katana to her left hand and held it out to block while she held her right arm away. When he came down on, she was barely able to block him. He continued to push down on her katana and let out a wild laugh.

"Not much longer courier!"

"I'd say the same for you," she grinned, it was time to use the trick that was up her sleeve-literally.

Hitomi threw her right arm at his neck. It wasn't her fist per say that made contact with his neck, but the tip of the short blade that she had tied to it under her long sleeve. The leader lost his balance and stumbled back, allowing Hitomi to knock him to the ground and step on him as he had his cronies do in their last encounter. With her katana, she sliced off his legs and stabbed her katana into the ground through one of his arms.

"Looks like it's my turn to pull out some souvenirs," she manically laughed, moving her right leg to his last arm. Hitomi was surprised by the stoney composure the leader had even when faced with death.

"Even if you kill me now Kusa dog, there are more agents of the Kuroi Hoshi around and they will complete the coup of your village!" he spat. Hitomi leaned down by his face, ripping the short blade from her arm and pointing it at him.

"Tell me about this Kuroi Hoshi," she demanded.

"You won't get anything out of me, Kusa dog!" he spat. In a fit of rage, Hitomi grabbed his tongue and sliced it off, tossing it into the flames.

"I wonder what you'll look like without eyes," she grinned as she took the short blade he had used to cut her eyes out, and slowly dissected his own. She stood up with the two eyeballs sitting in the palm of her right hand and pulled her katana out with her left. Hitomi walked over to tree which was slowly loosing it's flame, and tossed the two eyeballs into it, then rushed past the large tree to the other side of the field.

When she had finally reached the other side, Kiba and Akamaru stood waiting for her with the bodies of all of the guards scattered around them, "What took you so long Hitomi?"

"Sorry to make you wait," she chuckled, "You two sure clean up well, I wouldn't want to face you both in combat." She wiped the blood from her hands onto her pants and surveyed the area, "We need to search the area, we need to find the letter and I want to know who the Kuroi Hoshi are and where the rest of them are hiding."

"The Kuroi Hoshi? So that's what they black stars on everything are for?" Kiba asked.

"Oh, the guy I just fought mentioned that they were planning a coup of Kusagakure or something like that," she explained, "I mean, before I cut his tongue out. He wouldn't tell me anything else out, but I'm sure there's something around this camp about it that hasn't been burned."

The three of them split up, Hitomi checked around the large tent that she believed was the command center, Akamaru checked the bunks, and Kiba searched the bodies. On the bodies there were small notes here and there but none gave any real information. The command center on the other hand…

"Are those…my eyes?" Hitomi questioned as she opened a large chest in the command center. A jar with two eyeballs suspended in some sort of preserving liquid sat in it along with several bound journals and the letter with the mark of the daimyo of Kusa, oddly unopened. She poked her head out of the tent and called for Kiba and Akamaru who came running in after her.

"What'd you find?" Kiba asked as he and Akamaru pushed open the flaps of the tent. Hitomi held the jar over to him, "Are those your…?"

"They appear to be," she noted, pointing to the chest, "But I also found some journals and the letter with them."

"Really," he looked inside of the chest and pulled out the bound journals, "We should get that letter to the Hokage."

Hitomi and Kiba carried the contents of the chest back to the Hokage's office. While on the way, Hitomi was able to read a bit from the journals. It appeared to belong to the leader that she had killed, who in the journals, was never named but referred to as _the leader of squad nine_. Apparently there were many squads of this gang of rogue shinobi referred to as the Kuroi Hoshi. Only one name was given in the first volume, the name of one of the founders, Goro Kochi, her very own missing uncle.

When the trio arrived at the Hokage's office, Tsunade was also amazed that the letter had not been opened by the rogues, but she was sure there was some sort of reason as to why it hadn't listed somewhere within the later journals.

"I feel a lot better that they didn't open it though," Hitomi sighed a long sigh of a relief, "Won't you open it now Lady Hokage? I'm kinda wondering myself what it says after all of the fighting over it…"

"Yeah, I kinda do too," Kiba admitted as well.

"Let's see," Tsunade announced as she tore open the seal. Hitomi, Kiba, and Akamaru all slipped over to her to read it over her shoulder. As the Hokage slowly pulled the letter our and unfolded it, the trio leaned in even closer.

"This is…" Tsunade stammered. Kiba himself was shocked and Hitomi dropped to the floor and began to roll around, laughing hysterically.

_Lady Hokage,_

_Due to damage caused to the Kannabi and Tenchi Bridges from Konoha shinobi in past years, the country of Kusa is billing your office 5,000,000 ryo._

_Thank you in advanced,_

_Daimyo of Kusa_

"The daimyo has quite a sense of humor."

* * *

_And that's the ending of Brand New Eyes. There's an epilogue that follows and a sequel once My Favorite Harlequin and The Blond and the Blonde are also completed._

_Thanks for reading~!_


	7. Epilogue

**_Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Naruto or any of its trademarks, characters, places, etc._**

* * *

**-Epilogue-**

Two years ago, Hitomi Maeda was first given the job to deliver a letter to the Hokage of Konohagakure from the daimyo of Kusa. En route to Konoha, the courier from Kusagakure was attacked by a squad of rogue shinobi from a gang called the Kuroi Hoshi. During that attack, the squad's leader cut out her eyes, stole the letter she had been sent to deliver, and left her to die. Her last memories from that attack were the sounds of a village, Konoha, not too far in the distance. Luckily, before she bled out too much, she was found by a team of scouts and brought to the hospital in Konoha where she spent a week in a deep coma.

When she had awoken she was at first apprehensive of the new environment and her assigned guide, Kiba. However, in the three days before the eye replacement surgery Hitomi and Kiba began to slowly form a friendship with one another. He taught her how to better utilize her senses and she entertained him with her silly antics. After the surgery, in the dead of night, Hitomi attempted to run off and locate the gang alone but was stopped at the gate by Kiba and Akamaru.

The trio then teamed up to bring down the group of rogues that had blinded her, learning their connection to the gang Kuroi Hoshi. They also received a grave warning from the squad leader before he was killed about a future coup against the village of Kusagakure by their organization. When they brought the stolen letter to the Hokage, it was revealed that it was merely a bill for the destruction of the Tenchi and Kannabi Bridges.

Two years ago, Hitomi prepared to leave Konoha and return to Kusa. At that time she had a lot of unfinished business to take care of with her cousin missing and the Kuroi Hoshi still on the loose. She didn't have any time to lose and wanted to return as soon as possible to debrief with the daimyo. However, as she neared the large red gates of Konoha, she knew she was not alone. Leaning on the gate was the Konoha shinobi that she had referred to as "big nosed" numerous times before and his partner, the magnificent beast.

"Were you waiting for me?" she asked, although she already knew that they had just not why.

"I um…" Kiba pushed off of the side and stepped over to her with Akamaru at his side, "I was wondering if maybe…you'd stay."

"Stay?" she hadn't considered it before. Kiba and the village had been quite welcoming to her during her short stay; they had even given her back her sight and nursed her back to health. In all honesty, she would have loved to stay in Konoha, but she knew that it wasn't possible. She was a jonin of Kusagakure and the loyal courier of the daimyo. If she wasn't there to take risky delivery jobs for him, who would?

"I'm sorry Kiba, I can't," she gave him a sympathetic smile, "If things were different, I would gladly stay here with you and Akamaru."

Her smile faded, "But I there is a duty I must heed in Kusa."

Kiba's own smile faded as well and he dejectedly replied, "Oh…"

Hitomi however, did not want to leave in such a disheartening mood, and decided to raise his spirits, "But hey, thank you for everything you've done! I have to say, you've probably been a better friend to me than my friends in Kusa-I've never been treated to sake and food, I'm usually the one who has to pay for it!"

"Do they put up with you when you get into drunken brawls with random passersby?" he chuckled at the memory of the big guy the courier had stubbed in the foot with her cane.

"Well um…I usually drink at home," she also recalled the incident, of course without the images of it, just the feeling of a big fist being slammed into her face, "Thank you for putting up with me, y'know?"

Just then, an idea popped into her mind and she began to dig through her side bag for something.

Kiba noticed this and exclaimed, "Hey you aren't going to start drinking already are you? We don't need you getting injured on the way back and being hospitalized again!"

"Hahaha, trust me, I've broken my limbs enough times for one lifetime," she laughed while pulling out the object that she had been digging around for, hidden inside of a rag. She held it out to Kiba, "I want you to have this, y'know, so you can remember me by."

"And your sake breath?" he snickered while he unfolded it. Inside was the short blade that had been used to carve out her eyes by the squad leader from the Kuroi Hoshi and the same short blade he had used to track them down with.

"And your big nose?" she retorted.

The present astonished him, it was easily evident in his eyes, "This is…"

"Stab some people in the eyes with it for me alright? Or use as a bottle opener, I don't care. Just don't let it sit around collecting dust!" she sarcastically continued in a broken voice, folding her arms and looking away.

Without warning, he tightly embraced Hitomi, barely missing her back with his blade, "Hey watch it with that thing! I've had that in my flesh enough times!"

"I'm…I'm going to miss you, sake breath," he managed with an equally broken voice.

She sat her head on his shoulder, "I'll miss you too big nose."

She kissed his cheek then pulled away and started to pace towards away from the village, "But I have to return home. Maybe I'll return on better terms."

They waved to one another. And that was the last time Hitomi had ever seen the boy and his dog. The return to Kusagakure was a pretty speedy one and only lasted a few days. Before she knew it she was back in her hometown with a new brand new set of eyes.

"I guess people can't call you the Emerald-Eyed Courier," her childhood friend Arata mentioned from his seat in the Maeda Family Store by Hitomi. Within a few days Hitomi had returned to her usual routine which mostly involved helping run the family store, drinking with Arata, visiting a friend in the hospital, and unsuccessfully petitioning the daimyo to send a search party out for her missing cousin.

"I guess not," she replied, "I'm sure they'll come up with a new nickname for me pretty soon."

"That's true," he noted, taking another gulp of his bottle of _Special Sake_.

Just then, the door to the store slid open and a hooded costumer came in, immediately walking to the counter where Hitomi sat, "I was wondering, could you please make an adjustment to my puppet?"

"Um sure," Hitomi sat up as the customer laid an scratched up orange-haired puppet on the counter. She had never seen such a detailed and lifelike puppet like the one before her since she delivered a package to the Yondaime Kazekage many years prior.

"I have reason to believe that the Maeda Clan is pretty well-renowned for its application of poisons. I'd like you to coat my entire puppet with your most potent one."

This request and the puppet's quality itself made Hitomi suspicious enough, "Who are you?"

"Me?" the customer slowly brought their hands to their hood, which Arata and Hitomi tensely watched and lifted it up and over. It was Hitomi's friend from the hospital!

"Oh, it's just you Kanshisha!" Hitomi gave out a long sigh of relief, "You had me worried!"

Since Hitomi was so injury prone, she had been admitted to the Kusagakure hospital enough times for her to memorize all of the doctor's names. Kanshisha was a patient at the hospital that, as she had first introduced herself as, had a terminal illness as a reaction to an extremely potent poison and was receiving daily physical therapy and medicine to regrow her muscles. The two first met after she saved Hitomi from an assassination attempt one night in the hospital-thus her nickname, Kanshisha.

The girl never told Hitomi her real name, instead when Hitomi had first referred to her as Kanshisha, guardian. Kanshisha only told Hitomi that it was; "Close enough."

"So what are you doing outside of the hospital?" Hitomi asked, "And what's with the whole poisoning the puppet thing?"

"Oh, I've decided to leave town. There's someone I must pay a visit up in the deserts of Suna," she explained, scratching her neck and shutting her dull brown eyes, "The doctors gave me some braces to slip under my clothes and medicine to hold me over until I made it to Sunagakure."

"You're really leaving?" the Kusa courier asked, disappointed by all of the farewells as of late, "Will you ever return to Kusa?"

"Hahaha, maybe one day!"

So this brings us to the present time. A number of big things happened in Hitomi's life and it is of the utmost importance for me to explain some of them before telling you the final tidbit.

Hitomi and Arata were once again sitting in the family store drinking sake. Things were much different however, for one, the two had recently started dating. However, Arata noticed that Hitomi was always aloof and seemed to be waiting for something or someone. She never said "I love you" or showed any sort of emotions leaving him to wonder if something that had happened in Konoha had caused that.

"So um Hitomi," he embarrassingly asked, trying to make some kind of small-talk, "What ever happened to your old eyes?"

"Hmm," she glanced over to him without the slightest hint of interest, then pointed to a wall shelf behind them, "There."

Arata noticed a jar with two bloody eyeballs suspended in some type of preserving liquid on the shelf, "Oh…that's them."

He slumped back in his stool and sighed, he knew he wasn't getting anywhere, "Hitomi do you-"

Before he could finish, a man ran into the shop. Both Arata and Hitomi could easily tell that he was a messenger from the daimyo by the fancy Kusa symbol on the front of his yukata.

"Hitomi Maeda, the daimyo has a special request for you," he rushed over to her and bowed.

"Hmm, what is it?" she muttered, still disinterested.

"The daimyo has received word from the Kazekage of Sunagakure that two hideouts belonging to that of the Kuroi Hoshi have been discovered in and around Sunagakure. Since you have had prior experience with this group, he wishes for you to investigate the incident," the messenger quickly spat out.

"Really? I just had to deliver a letter to some kid in Suna too," she recalled. The mention of the Kuroi Hoshi again was making things much more interesting.

"Due to threats made against Kusagakure by the gang, the daimyo has also sent requests to the Hokage of Konohagakure for assistance for a full-on investigation of the surrounding area when you return from Suna," the messenger continued.

Now Hitomi was really interested. Her daimyo was requesting assistance from Konoha to deal with the Kuroi Hoshi so that meant…

"I accept the job," she suddenly jumped up from her spot, "Tell the daimyo that I will make my way to Sunagakure immediately and return to make a full-on investigation with the Konoha shinobi that are sent!"

And that was the beginning of how she would soon meet up with her friend from Konoha again.

* * *

So that's the epilogue for Brand New Eyes. My first draft of this kind of spoiled the planned ending for The Blond and the Blonde so I had to change a few things… To explain, this story is the third part of a timeline of several Naruto stories I have done so far. Specifically, this story takes place after The Blond and the Blonde yet before its epilogue. The ending of this epilogue ends around chapter 16 of My Favorite Harlequin.

But anyway, once The Blond and the Blonde and My Favorite Harlequin are both finished and posted, I'll start on the last part of the series that will tie everything together and heavily involve the Kuroi Hoshi.


End file.
